Very wholesome, underrated film (Horton Hears A Who [2008] (DVD))

Member Name: shaneo632

Product:	Horton Hears A Who [2008] (DVD)
Date:	01/09/09 (4 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good message, well performed and animated

Disadvantages: Not strong enough to pull in a wider audience

note: also appears in part on The Student Room and Flixster

Horton Hears a Who is not one of the most acclaimed animated films you'll ever see, nor did it make a particularly big impact upon its release, nor is it really particularly memorable in any way, but it's a solid diversion to take the kids to, and is rather well animated for a film outside the real of animation masters Pixar.

The film begins as a sensitive, intelligent elephant named Horton (Jim Carrey) hears a noise coming from a speck of dust, and thus believes that some family of lifeforms are living on it. He soon enough discovers that on the speck lives an entire town called Whoville (the same town used in Dr. Seuss' The Grinch), where he speaks to Mayor Ned McDodd (Steve Carell). From here, he is told that Horton must find a safe place for the dust speck to lie, otherwise their town may be destroyed forever. Horton fully buys into this, whilst his fellow animals in the "real world" ridicule him for presumably letting his imagination run away with itself. Nevertheless, he remains insistent, and tries to balance the Who's with his own life.

However, some of the pushier animals try to get rid of the speck by force, making Horton stand up for what he believes in, and thus I really feel that the film is among the more wholesome recent animated films in really getting at the ideas of teamwork and standing up for oneself. It's undoubtedly a positive message to put to kids, and it's a shame that the film didn't find a more popular appeal to this end.

Even with its mildly awkward premise, Horton Hears a Who is an endearing and wholesome feel-good film with stellar animation and strong performances.

Summary: A solid, well meaning animated film